Last Friday, the Senate passed the National Business Names Registration Package to replace the existing state-based business name registration system with a national online register. While the registration of trade marks is still separate, and will continue to take place through IP Australia, there will be links to IP Australia in the registration process and entities will be prohibited from registering names that are “identical”, “nearly identical”, “undesirable”, or “restricted”. If you wondered whether naming your new-born child was challenging, have a think about what the new process means for your business... read more »
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Natco Pharma, an Indian generic pharmaceutical company, has lodged an application with the Indian Patent Office requesting the grant of a compulsory licence to produce a generic version of Bayer’s anti-cancer drug Nexavar. If granted, this would be the first-ever compulsory licence issued by the Indian Patent Office and would set the bar for future applicants. read more »
Face to face? Text message? Billboard ad? There are so many ways to tell the person you are dating that it's over. But no matter how you do it, it's rarely a pleasant experience. You'd be forgiven for thinking that ending a business relationship would be easier. In some ways, you'd be right. The chances of awkward explanations, tears and objects hurtling towards your head are greatly reduced. However, an attempt to end a personal relationship is seldom met with the response "I disagree. This relationship is still going". Yet this happens in business all the time. Which means that when ending a business relationship, it's important to make sure that it's done in clear and unequivocal terms. In a recent case, a Al Jadeed, a broadcaster of Arabic TV services, made four attempts to end a TV broadcasting licence agreement. Not all were successful. Can you tell what works and what doesn't? read more »
In the US, the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 (“Act”) is considered by some to be the most “inspired” legislative enactment of the 20th century. The provisions of the Act are few and (seemingly) straightforward. Contractors — universities, national laboratories, teaching hospitals and the like — that enter into a research funding agreement with a US federal government agency are granted a right to ownership of any invention that is created in the course of the funded research. In return, contractors must comply with a number of obligations, including making disclosure of the invention to the relevant federal agency, filing a patent application for the invention, granting a non-exclusive paid-up licence to the invention to the federal agency and giving preference to small business and US industry when commercialising the invention.
A recent decision by the US Supreme Court has reversed what was thought to be implicit in the operation of the Act. read more »
A Fairfax journalist recently found himself in the uncomfortable position of having to hand over his iPad to Queensland police, following what the police called an investigation into “receiving unlawfully obtained property.” The “property” in question - photos that had been freely uploaded to Facebook by the owner of those photos. Confused? read more »
Should the downloading of an album be treated the same as if you walk into a music store and purchase the same album on CD? The answer is important if you are a record company who has backed the best kind of horse - an as yet unknown artist who is going to sell a lot of records - because you want to cast your net as broadly as possible. Enter Mr Marshall B. Mathers... read more »
Rebecca Black is a 13 year old music prodigy from Orange County, California. Actually, that’s not entirely true. Rebecca Black is a young girl whose song titled "Friday" is testament to the power of social media and autotune. With over 100 million hits at the time of writing, the song describes the trials and tribulations faced by a typical 13 year old girl. She’s "gotta go downstairs, gotta have some cereal", and decide whether kickin’ in the front seat or sittin’ in the back seat is a better way to get to school. When the song culminates by prophetically stating that "Yesterday was Thursday, today it is Friday… tomorrow is Saturday, and Sunday comes afterwards", it sounds more like an educational Sesame Street song than a pop hit.
But it is not the lyrical genius of the song which has sparked recent controversy. read more »
Was there a contract? It's among the most fundamental of legal questions, and it's one that was recently taken all the way to the NSW Court of Appeal. The parties were unable to agree on whether the exchange of five simple emails had resulted in a binding contract. The relevant parts of the emails are set out below. Can you tell if a contract was formed? read more »
In December we discussed the impact of the new Personal Properties Securities Act (PPSA): see Crosstown Music bitten by partial assignment of copyright. On 13 February 2011, the Council of Australian Governments decided to defer the commencent of the PPSA regime from May 2011 until October 2011. See the report card of the Council of Australian Governments Business Regulation and Competition Working Group for details.
Crosstown Music of California has lost their claim in the English courts to ownership of a portfolio of copyrights consisting of songs written by Mark Taylor and Paul Barry in the 1990s. The case demonstrates the power of a partial assignment of copyright to secure performance of a primary obligation (in this case the obligation of a publisher to pay royalties to a songwriter). Although Australian copyright law is the same as the English law considered by the court in this case, if the dispute had occurred in Australia after commencement of the Personal Properties Securities Act (PPSA) the outcome would be quite different. read more »